This year, before the Rainbow Readers Cruise, I boarded the Celebrity Reflection a few days early for the Rainbow Writers Cruise! For this 3-day sailing, I enjoyed workshops and activities with my fellow authors, plus time to enjoy being with my “coworkers” in a social setting before the readers joined us. Even more exciting, Rory Maxwell and I were invited to share a suite aboard the ship with author Victoria Sue before moving to a “regular” stateroom for the second sailing. For as many cruises I’ve been on, this was also my first time doing a “back-to-back.” I’m glad for the experience, since I’ll be doing it again with my family for this year’s holiday cruise.
Thursday
Rory and I flew from Baltimore to Tampa the night before the sailing. This means avoiding the stress of worrying that a delayed flight will mean missing the ship’s departure time. Even better, it also meant we had almost 24 hours to fix a major problem. When the plane landed, Rory turned to me and said, “I forgot my passport.”
While I joke about us being each other’s “emotional support human,” it’s actually pretty true. Turns out only one of us is allowed to panic at a time, so I was pretty sorted (I think) while we arranged for my spouse to leave work early, retrieve the passport from Rory’s house, and ship it overnight to an office near the cruise port.
As we celebrated with pizza and Victoria plied us with wine, we discovered that the address we’d been given “near the cruise port” was in Miami. The Reflection sails out of Fort Lauderdale. Once I learned how close the two cities are, I determined that to be tomorrow’s problem. (Though, for the record, I was prepared to drive multiple hours out of the way to make sure Rory was getting on the ship with us!)
Friday
We woke up before dawn and hit the road (stopping for coffee along the way, of course)! Despite some traffic in downtown Miami, all ended well. With Rory’s passport in hand, we actually made it to Fort Lauderdale and boarded the ship before the majority of our group arrived. One perk of being in a suite is the chilled champagne awaiting us on arrival. (We needed it.)
We relaxed the rest of the day, meeting up with other amazing author friends and enjoying our first delicious dinner on board. As in previous years, we gathered at the martini bar afterward.
Saturday
Bright and early Saturday morning, Rory was awake! As usual, I was significantly less so, but I managed to play tech support to get Rory sorted to participate in a cool activity organized for the weekend. With the subgenre, theme, opening line, and closing line provided, many of the authors signed up for a time slot to add up to 500 words to a collaborative story. Once Rory completed her contribution, we enjoyed breakfast in the dining room and then headed for the morning workshops.
In between Kim Fielding‘s excellent talk on the realities of the criminal justice system and Nora Phoenix‘s life-changing presentation on productivity (seriously, it was so helpful to me), Rory and I took a whirlwind tour through Key West to acquire the truly important souvenir: delicious, delicious key lime pie.
We finished out the afternoon workshops with a cool “round robin” activity in which each author had 60 seconds to offer a bit of advice related to the writing profession, whether about craft, marketing, administrative issues, etc. One thing I love about this career is that there is no “one, right way” to be an author. What I love even better about this community is that everyone is so invested in helping other authors be successful.
Afterward, we dressed up for formal night and hit the martini bar again!
Sunday
Woke up early (intentionally, ugh) because it was my turn to contribute to the collaborative story. Turns out I was the very last author, so I had 500 words to wrap up this silly adventure. Little-known fact about me: I did improv comedy back in college. I may have made it absolutely absurd (because you can never go wrong with tentacles), but I made sure our two heroes got their happily ever after!
Unfortunately, on the heels of that success, my body waved the white flag. Instead of enjoying my planned beach excursion in Bimini, Bahamas, I headed back to the suite and slept for nearly 6 hours. It was absolutely amazing. Feeling a little bit better, I did dress for dinner. An attempt was made, but I bailed before the appetizers arrived, fetched a light snack, and enjoyed a quiet meal on my balcony instead.
I did make it back out and about for the formal reading of the collaborative story. A highlight of the entire trip, and a moment that will live rent-free in my brain for a long time, is that one of the biggest names in our genre laughed out loud during my ridiculous conclusion…then approached me afterward to tell me how impressed and delighted she was with it!
Monday
The “transfer” between sailings was quick and painless! With a day to relax before the readers descended that evening, I joined some other authors in one of the lounges for a writing date, then took myself on a much-needed massage date at the spa.
Overall, this was a fabulous “writing retreat” in which I got to spend time with some of my favorite authors without having to be “on” for our audience. I appreciate and value our readers, but I am incredibly blessed to have developed genuine friendships with authors I’ve admired for their work in this genre. More than once during this trip, Rory and I shared a look we both knew meant “How is this our life? (surprised glee)” while sitting among other authors who welcomed us as one of their own. We’re already discussing ideas for future writing cruises!
Final Haul
- Official mug and T-shirt of the Rainbow Writers Cruise
- Adorable rainbow hat found in the Reflection gift shop
What’s next?
- Capclave (October 2-4, 2026; Rockville, Maryland)
- Farpoint (February 5-7, 2027; Towson, Maryland)
- Read the Rainbow (April 17, 2027; Havre de Grace, Maryland)
Attending any of these events? My books are available for preorder!
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